There is a new group of people who will be receiving a fourth coronavirus stimulus payment in New York. After the recently clarified excluded workers fund, which will send up to $15,200 for those that didn’t receive stimulus payments last year, leaders in New York City are ready to send out $5,000 to artists, taxi drivers, and homeless as part of a recovery plan.
Funds being used to complete the stimulus boost to those individuals are from the American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law during the spring.
The City plans to use nearly $6 billion in funds from the American Rescue Plan to provide those $5,000 relief payments to approximately 1,800 artists under the New York City Artist Corps umbrella.
The payments will be out by late October, according to officials.
The taxicab industry will also get a much needed boost – as those workers who have been transporting people around the city throughout the pandemic get $65 million allocated for similar payments. Officials say workers are mostly immigrants and people of color, which puts more emphasis on the ‘why’ behind the effort. These groups were statistically marginalized at a greater rate during the pandemic. Especially during economic lockdown in 2020.
“Relief payments are intended to help individual medallion owners achieve a more sustainable level of medallion debt, stabilize their financial situation, and get vehicles back in service so more taxis are available to the riding public,” a 70-page outline letter explained.
The last group to be helped in this effort is the City’s homeless. There will be $125 million allocated to that effort as part of the broader stimulus initiative.
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